SOLIDARITY WITH THE UKRAINIAN NATION AND RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES IN UKRAINE
And what next will be with Ukraine? This question is asked by the world looking at the last events in Kiev, which engulfed casualties among protesters. The opposition calls the government for dismissal, and the president Janukowycz for demission. The governing party is accusing the opposition of the escalating the conflict. In the background there appear suggestions about the Russian provocation which was going to make the team of Janukowycz dependent on Kremlin. On 26 January in Vatican, during the ‘Angelus’ prayer pope Francis confessed: - I am close to Ukraine and I pray for those who lost their lives on these days and for their families. I hope that a constructive dialogue will develop between state institutions and the civilian society and, avoiding resorting to actions marked with violence, in everyone’s heart peace and searching for the common welfare will win!
‘Unfortunately, not all appeals of religious Ukrainian communities for stopping the violence have been listened to, which led to tragic results – wrote Roman-Catholic bishops of Ukraine. – Despite that, we call all parties of the present conflict again to come to senses, stop the violence and undertake a dialogue. The road of violence leads to nowhere and nobody benefits from it’ – says the Latin Episcopate of Ukraine. Believers and all people of good will were also called to pray for Divine mercifulness for homeland. Assuring about solidarity of all Polish bishops with the brotherly Ukrainian nation was expressed in the letter of the Presidium of the Polish Episcopal Conference (on 23 January 2014) to the archbishop of holy Światosław, the metropolitan of Kiev Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and to the archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki, the Lvov metropolitan of the Latin rite. Polish bishops assure about their prayer and express words of compassion to the families of people killed recently in Euromajdan.
In the letter of the Presidium of the Polish Episcopal Conference we read: ‘Being deeply concerned, we observe the struggles of our brotherly Ukrainian nation to which Poland and Poles living in Ukraine cannot be indifferent. Therefore, we want to express again our brotherly unity and solidarity with the Ukrainian nation and also assure about the solidarity of all Polish bishops with you and about our prayer expressed to God.
Through You we also express words of compassion especially to the families of tragically killed relatives on the recent days. We entrust everybody to Divine mercifulness in the prayer. We also pray for the whole Ukrainian nation. We ask God for wisdom and the light of the Holy Spirit, so that changes taking place among difficulties would proceed in a peaceful way, free from strains, mutual aggression and bloodshed, remembering also about the fact that spiritual wounds heal longer than the bodily ones. We want to repeat through our common premise that the ‘cooperation of independent Poland with independent Ukraine is necessary, so that there would be peace in this part of Europe, people would enjoy their religious freedom and human rights would not be endangered’.
We trust that God, Lord of history events and human history will let us make decisions in the spirit of brotherly unity and agreement, which will serve to the welfare of all inhabitants of Ukraine and the Churches and religious communities, deeply sensitive to the authentic human good, will still enjoy the fullness of rights and civil freedoms, needed to fulfill one’s mission. Let God save all of us in peace and love’ – wrote Polish bishops, being in solidarity with the Ukrainian nation. (editorial team).
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"Niedziela" 5/2014